Do the poor need nutrition education? Some methodogical issues and suggestive evidence from Kinshasa, Zaire

African Studies Center Working Paper No. 2INTRODUCTION: It is frequently asserted that the diets of poor urban households in Africa and elsewhere are not nutritionally optimal, The composition of family food purchases is thought to be quite inefficient in many cases, reflecting the nutritional ignorance of the purchasers. At the same time, intrafamilial allocation of available foodstuffs is often seen as irrational in the sense that adult males, the least nutritionally vulnerable group, are given preference in feeding. [TRUNCATED

Racing to the bottom : foreign investment and air pollution in developing countries

Critics of free trade have raised the specter of a"race to the bottom,"in which environmental standards collapse because polluters threaten to relocate to"pollution havens"in the developing world. Proponents of this view advocate high, globally uniform standards enforced by punitive trade measures that neutralize the cost advantage of would-be pollution havens. To test the race-to-the-bottom model, the author analyzes recent air quality trends in the United States and in Brazil, China, and Mexico, the three largest recipients of foreign investment in the developing world. The evidence clearly contradicts the model's central prediction. The most dangerous form of air pollution--suspended particulate matter--has actually declined in major cities in all four countries during the era of globalization. Citing recent research, the author argues that the race-to-the-bottom model is flawed because its basic assumptions misrepresent the political economy of pollution control in developing countries. He proposes a more realistic model, in which low-income societies serve their own long-run interests by reducing pollution. He concludes with recommendations for international assistance measures that can improve environmental quality without counterproductive enforcement of uniform standards and trade sanctions.Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Pollution Management&Control,Sanitation and Sewerage

Estimating The Revenue Loss From Food-For-Home Consumption

This policy brief discusses the estimation of the revenue effect from eliminating the state sales tax exemption of food-for-home consumption

Calculating CARMA: Global Estimation of CO2 Emissions from the Power Sector

This paper provides a detailed description and assessment of CARMA (Carbon Monitoring for Action), a database that reports CO2 emissions from the power sector. We built CARMA to assist the millions of concerned global citizens who can act to reduce carbon emissions once they have timely, accurate information about emissions sources. CARMA also lays the groundwork for the global monitoring system that will be necessary to ensure the credibility of any post-Kyoto carbon emissions limitation agreement. CARMA focuses on the power sector because it is the largest carbon dioxide emitter (26% of the global total), and because power plants are much better-documented than many sources of carbon emissions. The CARMA database and website put anyone with web access a few keystrokes away from detailed knowledge about power plants and the companies that own and operate them. CARMA includes many aggregation tools, so it can be used for local, regional, national and international comparisons. The database also offers complete information about power plants and companies that do not emit carbon because they use non-fossil energy sources (nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, etc.). In this paper, we provide a description of CARMA’s methodology, an assessment of its strengths and weaknesses, and some tests of its accuracy across countries and at different geographical scales. While CARMA performs well in these tests, we recognize that it is far from perfect. We therefore extend the following invitation to any power plant or company that disputes our estimates: Provide us with better data, verified by an appropriate third party, and we will incorporate them in CARMA.global warming, climate change, emissions, energy

Crossroads at Mmamabula: Will the World Bank Choose the Clean Energy Path?

At the recent UN climate change conference in Bali, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a revolutionary change in the world’s energy mix to minimize the risk of catastrophic global heating. This paper explores the implications for the World Bank and other donor institutions, employing proposed Bank financing of the Mmamabula coal-fired power project in Botswana as an illustrative case. Using the latest estimates of generating costs for coal-fired and low-carbon power options, I compute the CO2 accounting charges that would promote switching to the low-carbon options. In all cases, I find that that the switching charges are at the low end of the range that is compatible with safe atmospheric limits on carbon loading. Among the low-carbon options that I have considered for Botswana, solar thermal power seems to dominate carbon capture and storage. My results suggest that the World Bank and other donor institutions will adopt a transformational energy policy if they use appropriate accounting charges for carbon emissions. The Mmamabula example indicates that this approach will select low-carbon options in many cases, and grants from the Bank’s Clean Technology Fund and other sources can finance the market-cost gap between clean and fossil-fired technologies. Clean energy projects should proliferate, as donors learn about the new approach and more funds are devoted to meeting the global emissions reduction mandate.World Bank, climate change, Botswana

Structural adjustment and forest resources - the impact of World Bank operations

Over two decades, the World Bank has undertaken many structural adjustment operations withgovernments of developing countries. During negotiations for structural adjustment loans (SALs), partner governments agree to specific policy reforms, whose implementation becomes a condition for disbursement of SAL funds. Conditionality varies with local circumstances, but generally supports privatization of state enterprises, liberalization of the domestic economy, and openness in international trade. Structural adjustment operations have often been controversial because they are explicitly political. Opposition, or support reflects ideological perspectives, perceptions of who gains, and who loses economically from a SAL, or beliefs about its environmental, and social impacts. Environmental groups express particular concern about SALs'impacts on the rate of deforestation. Debate about adjustment, and deforestation has been fueled largely by anecdotes, and a few country cases bases on limited time-series data. The authors broaden the analysis by combining a complete record of Bank SAL operations, with a 38-year socioeconomic database for 112 developing countries. They find that adjustment has greatly affected imports, exports, consumption, and production in many forest products sectors (such as fuel-wood, sawn-wood, panels, pulp, and paper). Some activities have increased, and some declined, but overall, the effects have balanced each other. The net impact on domestic round-wood production, the authors'proxy for forest exploitation, has been almost exactly zero. Their results suggest that growth in round-wood production is explained well by population growth, urbanization, and world demand for forest products. Their findings suggest that adjustment has not promoted domestic deforestation, but it has increased net imports of wood products, implying some displacement of pressure onto other countries'forest resources. They also find that devaluations have significantly increased the exploitation of forest resources.Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Silviculture,Consumption,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Silviculture,Forestry,Consumption

The Effect of Insurance Premium Taxes on Employment

This report provides estimates of the effect of the insurance premium taxes on state-level employment in the insurance industry. FRC Report 18

Why Warner-Lieberman Failed and How to Get America’s Working Families behind the Next Cap-and-Trade Bill

Among partisans of greenhouse gas emissions regulation, the Senate’s failure to pass the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade bill is often attributed to rampant denial, fueled by diehard political conservatism, energy-company propaganda, and government suppression of evidence on global warming. If so, the solution to the problem is electoral change, exposure of the propaganda, and public education. However, public concern is already so widespread that even leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have acknowledged the need for action. In this paper, I consider two additional forces that have stymied carbon emissions regulation in developing countries. The first is the perception that costly carbon regulation promoted by the rich will inflict an unjust burden on the poor. The second is hostility to taxation of critical fossil-fuel resources that were developed long before climate risk was identified. My econometric analysis suggests that these same forces have significantly affected senators’ votes on Warner-Lieberman. By implication, Congress is not likely to approve cap-and-trade legislation unless Americans with below-median incomes are compensated for expected losses. My analysis supports recent proposals for direct distribution of emissions permit auction revenues to American families on an equal per-capita basis.climate change, global warming, economic development

Alternative Formulas for Allocating LOST Revenue to Counties and Municipalities

The focus of our research is on the allocation of the LOST revenues between the county and municipal governments. This research reviewed various aspects of the LOST allocation and considered several alternative methods of distributing LOST revenues between the county and sub-county units. This is a complex problem with high stakes. Because the allocation is a zero-sum game, any change in the allocation is almost guaranteed to make one party worse off than under the current allocation. The real gains lie in both sides being freed from negotiations that are oftimes long and costly in terms of staff time and outside consultants. Report #9

Stockpiles of obsolete pesticides and cleanup priorities : a methodology and application for Tunisia

Obsolete pesticides have accumulated in almost every developing country or economy in transition over the past several decades. Public health and environmental authorities are eager to reduce health threats by removing and decontaminating stockpile sites, but there are many sites, cleanup can be costly, and public resources are scarce. Under these conditions, it seems sensible to develop a methodology for prioritizing sites and treating them sequentially, as budgetary resources permit. This paper presents a methodology that develops cleanup priority indices for Tunisia. The approach integrates information on populations at risk, their proximity to stockpiles, and the relative toxic hazards of the stockpiles. The robustness of this approach is tested by varying model parameters widely and testing for stability in the rank-ordering of results.Information Security&Privacy,Food&Beverage Industry,Population Policies,Environmental Governance,Disease Control&Prevention